County Championship: Carlson and Root tons boost Glamorgan v Gloucestershire

Kiran Carlson hit his first century since July 2021

Kiran Carlson led the way for Glamorgan with a fluent 106 as they reached 388-8, a massive 223 runs lead over Gloucestershire on first innings.

He shared a stand of 160 for the fourth wicket with Eddie Byrom, who made a composed 81.

Billy Root then made a busy 104 not out to strengthen the home side's advantage at half-way in the game.

Marchant de Lange (3-72) and Tom Price (2-52) were the pick of the visitors' toiling attack.

It was a far cry from the first hour after Gloucestershire reduced Glamorgan to 35 for three, as spinner Zafar Gohar, seamer Price and ex Glamorgan paceman de Lange all bowled tidily with the new ball.

Byrom rode his luck early on without offering a chance as he and Carlson took the upper hand to put their team ahead with just three wickets down; Byrom hitting Zafar for two sixes before he cut de Lange to slip.

Carlson, driving aggressively, was dropped on 39 and 77, but generally looked in good form as he accelerated the scoring rate before Ollie Price had him leg-before.

Despite Colin Ingram dropping down the order because of a neck spasm, Glamorgan had plenty of batting available against an inconsistent visitors' attack, with their selection of only three faster bowlers looking strange for an early-season match.

Gloucestershire kept pegging away and the new ball saw them limit the damage as they claimed the wickets of Chris Cooke (26), Dan Douthwaite (15) and Ingram (13).

But Root, who gave just one chance on 76 in a mature knock, reached three figures in the closing overs for the first time since he took a hundred off brother Joe at Headingley almost two years ago.

Glamorgan's Kiran Carlson told BBC Sport Wales:

"We're in a great position going into day three, it was tough early on and the new ball is still doing a little bit, but it was nice to spend some time out there, great to have that big partnership with Eddie.

"It was about having a clear game-plan, it might not look pretty at times but it's trying to stick to your game and trying to come out the other side of it (early pressure).

"We built good partnerships and Billy finished it off with great hundred overnight so hopefully he can kick on.

"Channa (de Lange) is a great bowler, it brought back a lot of memories (of playing with him), he tries his hardest throughout the day and he's always been a great competitor."

Gloucestershire's Marchant de Lange told BBC Radio Bristol:

"It's always good to be out there at the start of the season, we wanted a bit more out of today in wickets and trying to contain them.

"As a bowling unit we're trying to squeeze away and get those ten wickets, we were trying to be relentless but the wicket played better today and they played well.

"I love these sessions when the day goes long, personally I try to contribute in every facet whenever required and I'm excited to take my first wicket for the club.

"Hopefully we can get those two wickets early and our batters know what we need to do, it's going to be a big shift for us batting-wise."